1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to emergency signaling and alarm systems and more particularly to portable emergency signaling and alarm systems that, when tripped, can automatically transmit a prerecorded message via radio transmission on a preselected frequency directly to on-duty emergency personnel, and in one embodiment, can locally signal an alarm condition by audio and/or visual indication.
2. Description of Related Art
Alarm systems typically are hardwired in-place and do not have the capability of portability or quick installation. In addition, most alarm systems respond to a triggering event by either locally signaling, such as by siren and/or emergency lights, or by alerting remote monitoring personnel, who must in-turn dispatch on-duty emergency response personnel, such as police or security guards, to the event location.
Dispatching on-duty emergency personnel, even if by direct 911 call, adds a delay to the response time required for the responding personnel to reach the event site. Often, a delay in response time can mean the difference between arriving to a location "after-the-fact" or in-time to prevent or apprehend the perpetrator of an incident such as burglary.
For example, a number of shops may be experiencing a series of smash and grab burglaries, a crime that can be committed within two minutes. By the time police are dispatched to an alarm system, the perpetrators are long gone. With the existing 911 and dispatch service delays, protecting an entire block of buildings can require a number of officers to stake-out, or provide visual contact, with each of the target shops.
Today's police and security forces need crime prevention tools that increase the productivity of the individual officer and are flexible enough to handle a variety of scenarios. If security and police forces can apply their limited resources in a timely manner to crimes as they are being developed by the criminal elements, the effectiveness of law enforcement services will increase.
There is a need for equipment that permits a single officer to receive an immediate indication of the occurrence of a criminal offense including the location and other assessing information. The equipment should provide a rapid response capability directly to the responding officer, bypassing the inherent delays of 911 telephone and police dispatch personnel. In addition, the equipment should be portable and simple to set up in a short period of time, preferably without requiring the officer to carry any new or additional equipment.
The present invention accomplishes the above, as described herein below.